Race to the Bowl: the SEC bowl race
Every SEC team plays 12 regular season games, and six wins is the number that makes a team bowl eligible. This page tracks all 16 of them against that line: how many wins each has, how many are still needed, and who can no longer get there. Records are entered by hand each week from published standings.
Before the first kickoff
The 2026 race starts with the first results. Every team below is listed at 0-0 until the opening weekend is in.
Alabama0-0, 6 wins to go
Arkansas0-0, 6 wins to go
Auburn0-0, 6 wins to go
Florida0-0, 6 wins to go
Georgia0-0, 6 wins to go
Kentucky0-0, 6 wins to go
LSU0-0, 6 wins to go
Mississippi State0-0, 6 wins to go
Missouri0-0, 6 wins to go
Oklahoma0-0, 6 wins to go
Ole Miss0-0, 6 wins to go
South Carolina0-0, 6 wins to go
Tennessee0-0, 6 wins to go
Texas0-0, 6 wins to go
Texas A&M0-0, 6 wins to go
Vanderbilt0-0, 6 wins to go
Each step is one win. The dashed line is 6 wins, where a team becomes bowl eligible, and the track runs the full 12 game regular season. Tap a lane for its record.
Race to the Bowl board. The same records are in the standings table below.
| Team | Record | Wins to a bowl |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 0-0 | 6 wins to go |
| Arkansas | 0-0 | 6 wins to go |
| Auburn | 0-0 | 6 wins to go |
| Florida | 0-0 | 6 wins to go |
| Georgia | 0-0 | 6 wins to go |
| Kentucky | 0-0 | 6 wins to go |
| LSU | 0-0 | 6 wins to go |
| Mississippi State | 0-0 | 6 wins to go |
| Missouri | 0-0 | 6 wins to go |
| Oklahoma | 0-0 | 6 wins to go |
| Ole Miss | 0-0 | 6 wins to go |
| South Carolina | 0-0 | 6 wins to go |
| Tennessee | 0-0 | 6 wins to go |
| Texas | 0-0 | 6 wins to go |
| Texas A&M | 0-0 | 6 wins to go |
| Vanderbilt | 0-0 | 6 wins to go |
How bowl eligibility works
A team becomes bowl eligible by winning 6 of its 12 regular season games. Eligibility is not the same as an invitation: it makes a team available to be selected, and the bowls do the selecting once the regular season ends. Because six wins out of twelve games leaves no room to spare, a 7th loss ends the chase arithmetically, which is why teams at that mark are listed here as eliminated rather than still climbing. Kentucky fans can see what Lexington called before kickoff.